WACO,
Texas- Despite being the No. 2 seed in this year's National
Collegiate Acrobatics & Tumbling Association Championship, the University
of Oregon acrobatics and tumbling team (11-0) showed why they were defending
champions as they used six, strong tumbling heats to pick up their second NCATA
National Championship in as many tries, upending No. 1 seed Maryland (9-2), 281.935-277.885,
Saturday night at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.

The Ducks record the first perfect season in
NCATA history, moving to 11-0 as Maryland finishes the season at 9-2 with Oregon
handing the Terps their two losses this season.

Oregon's domination in the compulsory round
continued as they tallied a 38.70 behind strong scores in the pyramid and toss
portion. The Terps weren't far behind with a 38.55.

UO turned it on in the next two events to
take a 96.75-96.10 advantage into the half.

With a lead in tow, the Ducks stumbled in the
toss event though. In heat one, Oregon lost 9.70-9.45. The Terps took the
upper hand in the synchronized toss and the open toss to put the Ducks behind,
125.10-124.75 heading into the tumbling portion.

Last year tumbling was not a strong area for
Oregon, but the Ducks revamped themselves heading into this season and have
leaned on it.

In the duo pass, freshman Sarah Moreno and
sophomore Natasha Katzaroff dominated, winning the event, 9.75-9.05. The Ducks
also took care of the Terps in the trio pass, but had a setback in the quad
pass.

The solo passes were where Oregon got most of
their momentum going into the team routine. Senior Kelsey Rowell won the aerial
pass, 9.95-9.78. Freshman Nicole Erlichman went down five-tenths of a point in
the six-element pass, but Katzaroff powered through the open pass, defeating
her opponent, 9.98-9.95 allowing the Ducks to get the lead back, 182.825-182.475.

With energy and momentum in their hands, all
UO had to do was finish strong in the team routine to wrap up their second
title and they did just that. Oregon scored a 99.11 with very few errors, but
Maryland did not have the best showing as they had various drops and bobbles
and only scored a 95.41.

In addition to their team title, the Ducks
won event titles in heat three of the pyramid, duo, trio quad, aerial and
six-element.